I-Com Symposium “Fast track to EU Strategic Autonomy. Speed check for digital, green and health”

martedì 06 Dicembre 2022 ore 17:00 - 19:00

Avenue des Arts 56



The discussion about the EU’s strategic autonomy within the European institutions and Member States has lately become more heated in light of the current geopolitical and economic circumstances.

Considering this, I-Com’s Symposium for 2022 aimed to provide a forum for high-level representatives from EU institutions, research and business organisations, trade and consumer associations and other relevant stakeholders, to take stock of the EU’s initiatives to fast-track the capacity of the EU to act autonomously in strategically important policy areas (digital, green and health).

This year’s Symposium entitled “Fast track to EU Strategic Autonomy. Speed check for digital, green and health”, has taken place on Tuesday 6 December at 17:00 – 19:10 CET, at Avenue des Arts 56, Brussels. 

The event involved 3 different panels, each addressing one of I-Com’s areas of expertise.

Please find as follows the event’s programme.

I-Com_Symposium

Speakers confirmed:

[tp no_translate]Jasmin BATTISTA
Deputy Head of Unit Digital Transition, Industry & Single Market, Secretariat-General, European Commission
[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Jasmin Battista has been deputy head of unit Digital Transition, Industry & Single Market (SG.D.1). She previously was a member of cabinet of the European Commissionner and Vice-President Andrus Ansip, in charge of the digital single market. She was before a case officer in the Directorate for Competition of the European Commission and a Référendaire at the Court of First Instance (now General Court) in Luxembourg. Before joining the Court of First Instance, she worked for 3 years (2002-2005) as a case handler (predominantly in the field of the EU State aid law) for the DG Competition. This job was preceded by an associate’s position and a traineeship at two law offices – Coudert Brothers and O’Connor & Company respectively. In the last few years Jasmin Battista has participated as a speaker at numerous conferences in the field of EU law, International labour law, competition and state aid law, and has also acted as a lecturer at different university and postgraduate programmes.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Christian BORGGREEN
Senior Vice President & Head of Office, CCIA Europe[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Christian Borggreen is Senior Vice President and Head of the Computer & Communications Industry Association in Europe. Before joining CCIA in 2014, Mr. Borggreen served as Policy Advisor at the U.S. Mission to the EU. In his role for the U.S. Department of State, he advised senior U.S. decision-makers on digital policy issues. He played a key role in securing transatlantic alignment on Internet governance and in promoting interoperability in the areas of data privacy and online commerce. From 2008 to 2010 he managed the advocacy on digital economy policy advocacy for the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU. Prior to that, he worked for the United Nations in New York and in Santiago de Chile, in the area of digital and economic development. He holds a master’s degree in Public Administration comprised of university studies in the United States, Argentina, Italy, and Denmark.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Rosa CASTRO
Senior Policy Manager for Healthcare Delivery, European Public Health Alliance – EPHA[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Joining EPHA in June 2021, Rosa brings over 15 years of experience in health law and policy and her passion for access to medicines acquired as she witnessed first-hand the impact of neglected diseases while growing up in Venezuela. She supports EPHA’s work on access to healthcare, including the European Alliance for Responsible R&D and Affordable Medicines. As Networks’ Coordinator, her role is to build upon the wealth of networks, partnerships, and alliances at EPHA.

In academia, she gained a PhD in European Law and Economics, and an MA in Bioethics and Science Policy, wrote a book and articles on patents and health, was a postdoctoral Fellow at the European University Institute, and at Duke University, USA, and lectured on intellectual property and health law. In Brussels, she has worked as Senior Scientific Policy Officer at FEAM and Senior Policy Advisor at a consultancy.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Stefano DA EMPOLI
President, I-Com[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Stefano is the president and principal policy analyst at I-Com, the Institute for Competitiveness, a think tank based in Rome and Brussels which he founded in 2005. He currently teaches political economy and economic policy at the Roma Tre University, in Rome. Stefano is a graduate of the Coripe Consortium for Research and Continuing Education in Economics (Piemonte, Italy), where he received a master’s degree in economics and George Mason University (Virginia, USA) where he obtained his MA (Economics). Stefano has served in key advisory or expert positions on a number of task forces or scientific boards, including: Vice President of the Health City Institute; Scientific Director of the La Scossa Association; Board member of the European Foundation EYPROM; Expert Member of the Eurelectric Task Force on Investment; Expert Member of the Technical Secretariat for the Protection of Nature in the Italian Ministry of the Environment; Director at the Observatory on Energy Policy of the Einaudi Foundation. He has authored numerous publications on economic themes, particularly with regard to policy and regulation of the energy market and infrastructural services and the governance of the institutions, and his opinions and analysis has featured in major Italian newspapers.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Christophe GRUDLER
MEP, ITRE Committee[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Christophe Grudler holds a DEA in Modern History from the University of Strasbourg and a degree from the Centre Universitaire d’Enseignement du Journalisme (CUEJ), is a journalist and then a publisher. He has had a career in the regional and national press. In 2015, he founded his own company which publishes regional periodicals and books. Passionate about history, he has written several books on his city and region. President of the Mouvement Démocrate du Territoire de Belfort, Christophe Grudler is a member of the national executive board of the Mouvement Démocrate since 2016. Elected as a Member of the European Parliament on 26 May 2019, Christophe Grudler is also a departmental councillor for the Territoire de Belfort. Within the Renew group, Christophe Grudler sits on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. He focuses on the need for a European industrial strategy to gain our autonomy. He also specialises in issues related to transport, defence, international relations, culture and freedom of the press.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Giacomo MATTINO’
Head of Unit Food, Retail, Health, DG GROW, European Commission[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Giacomo Mattinò is a permanent official of the European Commission since December 1993. He has held several positions within the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. Before that he held management position as the Head of Unit for Human Resources in the European Commission-Directorate General for Industry & Enterprises and had a strong career path in the Commission with focus on Internal Market and its International Trade dimension (mechanical and automotive industries, mutual recognition and market surveillance), having also served in the EU Delegation for the South Pacific.Giacomo Mattinò is a graduated in Political Sciences – international economics at LUISS in Rome and has followed post-graduate courses in business and international project management at IFAP – Rome, at the South Pacific University and at the Ashridge Management School. He is the author of several publications, in particular on trade and mutual recognition issues.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Michele MASULLI
Director, Energy Area, I-Com[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]A Research Fellow since 2017, Michele Masulli is currently Director of the Energy Area at the Institute for Competitiveness. Graduated in Economics and Economic Policy from Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, he then obtained an Executive Masters in ‘Export management and international project development’ from the Sole24Ore Business School. He is currently a PhD student in Applied Economics at the Department of Economics, University of Roma Tre. He mainly deals with energy scenarios and sustainable development policies, as well as industrial policies and business internationalisation.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Eleonora MAZZONI
Director, Innovation Area, I-Com[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Eleonora Mazzoni is a graduated in economics from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, with a thesis on statistical breakdown of the wage differential between foreign and Italian citizens. After collaborating as a research assistant with Fondazione Brodolini on labour market issues in the European Union, she worked for the CER (Centro Europa Ricerche), dealing with economic analysis on international economics, internationalisation of enterprises and public policy evaluation. Eleonora studied the main econometric techniques for the evaluation of public intervention at the IRVAPP (Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies) in Trento and at the Econometrics Summer School organised by Cide. Eleonora currently holds the position of Director of the Innovation area at I-Com, where she is mainly responsible for carrying out statistical analyses and research on economic and regulatory issues in the innovation and energy area.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Lorenzo PRINCIPALI
Director, Digital Area, I-Com
[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Lorenzo Principali deals with digital media, web services and telco economics and trends. From 2007 to 2012, he worked as a researcher for the Institute for Media Economics, providing analysis and consulting services for the main national and international operators. He won a research grant from Fondazione CRT for the Civil Society Young Talents Master’s, with a project on IPTV, and he acquired a Master’s in Business Administration from the Link Campus University of Malta. He has conducted research and consultancy services for Italian and international institutions such as the Ministry of Communication, the Italian Senate and the Council of Europe. Lorenzo has also collaborated with several digital start-ups as a web marketing consultant, project manager and co-founder, developing a 360° experience in the digital business environment.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Luisa REGIMENTI
MEP, ENVI Committee[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Luisa Regimenti is a member of the European Parliament from 2019. In the EP, she sits as a full member in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and in the Delegation for Relations with the Pan-African Parliament. He is also a substitute member of the Legal Affairs Committee for the EPP. Alongside her parliamentary work, Luisa Regimenti is an esteemed forensic scientist. She holds the position of Honorary National President of the MeLCO Contemporary Forensic Medicine Association, teaches at the University of Tor Vergata (Rome), and continues to follow important forensic medicine trials of national importance as a consultant. He is also Honorary President of the European Women’s Network, an association close to the European People’s Party parliamentary group that promotes awareness-raising actions in favour of women victims of violence, physical, psychological and sexual.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Pinar SERDENGECTI
Director of Competition and Regulation, ECTA[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Pinar was born in Istanbul and has a BSc in Economics & Social Sciences from Bocconi University in Milan, a MA in International Management and Business Administration from Bocconi University and a MA in Economics of Competition Law from King’s College – University of London. Pinar has always worked in the telecommunications industry with experiences in different operators. She started working in Telecom Italia in 2004, as an analyst in the International Regulation Affairs Dept and later continuing as specialist at Regulatory Strategy Dept of Telecom Italia. From 2008 until 2017 she worked in the Regulation and Competition Affairs Dept. in Vodafone Italia, contributing to the start-up and growth of fixed services business of the operator in Italy, and following all network and economic regulatory aspects of fixed business and ultimately also the Content/STB and Copyright regulation aspects. Since October 2017, she is Director of Regulatory and Competition Affairs at iliad Italia, the fourth MNO in Italy.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Catharina SIKOW MAGNY
Director for Green Transition and Energy System Integration at Directorate-General for Energy, DG ENER, European Commission[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Catharina Sikow-Magny joined the European Commission in 1997 and is currently the Director responsible for Green Transition and Energy System Integration in the Directorate General for Energy. Before that, she was the Head of Unit in charge of Consumers, Local Initiatives, Just Transition. Before that she was the Head of Unit responsible for Networks and Regional Initiatives. She has as well worked on international transport, trans-European network policy and financing, internalisation of external costs, and strategic policy research. Before joining the Commission, Catharina was a team leader and chief economist in the private sector in Finland. She has also worked for the United Nations Development Programme in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She holds a Master of Economics degree from the Aalto University, Finland.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Alexandra TAMAS
Director Public Affairs, The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA)[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Alexandra Tamas works as Director of Public Affairs for EFPIA, the trade association representing the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she worked as Head of Cabinet to the Romanian Minister of Health. Alexandra is a healthcare policy and public affairs professional with over 10 years of experience in developing, promoting and evaluating national and EU health and pharmaceutical policies. Alexandra has built her expertise working in the public, private and NGO sectors. Between 2010 – 2018, she worked in the R&D pharmaceutical industry in Romania and at European level leading government relations. Alexandra served as Project Manager at the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP), providing technical assistance for countries in the WHO European Region to implement comprehensive tobacco control and smoking cessation policies. She was selected by the UICC (Union for International Cancer Control) to be part of the 2019/2020 Young Leaders programme. Alexandra holds a MA in Political Economy from BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo, Norway and a BA in International Business and Economics from Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Kjeld VAN WIERINGEN
EU Policy Analyst – Strategic Foresight and Strategic Autonomy, European Parliament[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Testo.[/tp]

[tp no_translate]Paul WILCZEK
Head of Energy Policy, Climate & Sustainability Eurelectric[/tp]

Bio

[tp no_translate]Paul is active in public advocacy & EU affairs in Brussels since 2005. His experience in the energy policy filed covers grid integration of variable RES, R&D policy and related standardisation & engineering issues. As Eurelectric’s head of the Distribution & Market Facilitation unit, he and his team cover all aspects of regulatory frameworks for distribution grids including infrastructure investments, flexibility, tariffs & grid resilience.[/tp]